FBI hunt hackers over Scarlett Johannson nude photos

LOS ANGELES - The FBI is probing allegations that a number of Hollywood celebrities have been hacked, after semi-naked pictures of Scarlett Johansson leaked onto the Internet, the agency said Wednesday.
The photos, apparently taken by the actress herself, were published on gossip websites, while there were reports also of a hacked picture of Justin Timberlake, taken by actress Mila Kunis.

"The FBI is investigating the person or groups responsible for a series of computer intrusions involving high-profile figures," said Laura Eimiller of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in Los Angeles.
She would not name any of the alleged victims "due to the pending nature of our investigation," but it was thought there had been a recent uptick in alleged hacking of stars, initially reported earlier in the year.
The pictures of Johansson, star of "The Horse Whisperer," "Lost In Translation" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring," showed her in a state of undress in a home setting.

In one she was holding a towel round herself with face to the camera, her unclothed rear view clearly visible in a mirror, while in the other she was topless. In the first picture she was photographing herself with a smartphone camera, and appeared to be doing so in the second, on a bed.

A publicist for Johansson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The TMZ website meanwhile reported that actress Mila Kunis had been hacked, and that pictures of Timberlake -- with whom she starred in "Friends with Benefits" -- had been leaked.
Two of the pictures show Timberlake, one shirtless in bed, another with a pair of pink panties on his head; another shows Kunis in a bathtub, and a fourth is explicit in nature, of an unidentified male, TMZ reported.

The FBI spokeswoman declined to say how exactly the celebrity victims may have been hacked.
"What traditionally was called computer intrusion can nowadays mean anything from..compromise of a desktop, a laptop, an iPad, a phone or really any device with which one can access personal information via the Internet."

Al-Qaida creates 'hitlist' of U.S. officials and business leaders

WASHINGTON - An al-Qaida linked website has posted a potential hit list of targets that include names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders, calling for terrorists to target these Americans in their own homes.

The FBI has sent out a new intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning that this new web-based threat, while not a specific plot, is very detailed.
The bulletin said the list includes leaders "in government, industry and media."
The FBI has notified those individuals who are named.
The list includes Wall Street firms, political leaders, leaders with think tanks and contractors who do business with the military.

The websites contain 40 specific names, 26 of them with photos attached, and they call for posting home addresses.
One jihadist called for sending package bombs to any listed address as just one possibility.
An FBI spokesman declined to comment.

The FBI is calling the list of names the most detailed web-based al-Qaida-linked threat since Osama bin Laden was killed.
The list has also been discussed on another al-Qaida-linked Web forum.
The concern is a lone actor could try to use the specific information for a plot.
The FBI letter said the information on the overseas websites "is aspirational and it's unknown if the threat will progress beyond these discussion forums."
These specific postings follow calls by Adam Gadahn -- al-Qaida's American-born communication chief -- for individual attacks.

Officials are concerned the list has been shared on numerous jihadist sites.
"What's scary about this is how specific the individual information is," said former New York State Homeland Security Director Michael Balboni. "What you don't know is, when does aspirational become operational in cases like this, involving a possible lone actor here inspired by a website."
The FBI memo stresses al-Qaida and its supporters have a history of making web based threats with little result.

"Part of this is a necessary precaution. You don't want to scare people," Balboni said. "But there is much more specific, individual targeting than we've seen before."
Since bin Laden was killed, intelligence officials have been working to track terrorists and monitor possible plots.

Experts say fear of a homegrown or isolated actor remains a concern.